Meiofaunal communities in four Adriatic ports: Baseline data for risk assessment in ballast water management.

Ports receive a variety of contaminants related to a wide range of anthropogenic activities - including ship ballast water (BW) - that ultimately find their way to sediments. Benthic meiofauna from four Adriatic ports (Ancona, Trieste, Koper, and Split) was assessed for the main environmental pollutants, to evaluate the effects of human activities on meiobenthos and identify the most appropriate descriptor to assess the ecological quality of marine ecosystems. Sediment analysis demonstrated that Trieste and Split were the most contaminated ports, followed by Koper and Ancona. All meiofaunal parameters showed high spatial and temporal variability, in line with the marked heterogeneity of the four ports. Sand, total organic carbon, and pollutants seemed to be the variables that best explained meiofaunal patterns. Community structure and rare taxa were the meiofaunal descriptors that reflected the environmental status and biological response most accurately. The present data suggest that meiofauna can be used to assess the biological impact of BW.

Impact of fish farming on the distribution of phosphorus in sediments in the middle Adriatic area.

During the last decade, intensive fish farming developed along the central Croatian coast, creating a need to study and evaluate its potential influence on unaffected sites. We considered phosphorus as an indicator of the influence of fish farming and investigated the distribution of phosphorus forms in sediment from several fish farms and marine areas of different trophic status in the middle Adriatic. Analyses of samples were performed with modified SEDEX techniques. Our results indicated that authigenic apatite phosphorus showed no significant differences among the investigated stations, while organic phosphorus concentrations reflected the trophic status of the station area. Below-cage sediment was characterized by enhanced fish debris phosphorus and low detrital apatite phosphorus concentrations, while sediment from an anthropogenically influenced bay showed the highest values of iron bound phosphorus species. Among the different P fractions, fish debris phosphorus proved to be the most sensitive indicator of the influence of fish farming on marine sediment.